We know that in almost every region of Anatolia, hundreds of vines grow; some of them to eat fresh, others for making wine but each yielding grapes with a unique identity. Fortunately, since the beginning of the 2000s, we see a new trend. Wineries are doing their best to bring the forgotten local grapes back to life and to the glasses of wine-lovers. While many entrepreneurs who set their hearts on the world of wine, are fighting to survive in the sector, which the state approaches as a stepchild, they still keep their enthusiasms high up.
Wines made from endemic grapes of the lands we live in have a large place in the wine menu of our family business WAYANA Wine Bar in Istanbul Kadıköy, where we include approximately 400 Turkish wines. In addition, we strive to increase the awareness of wines with tasting events that include wines made from these grapes.
The town of Foca, in the north of Izmir, takes its name from the Phocaeans, who lived in this region about three thousand years ago. It is estimated that the wine grape grown by this people, who wrote their names in history with their maritime activities, is the grape known as Foca Karasi today. As a result of the Persian occupation of Anatolian lands 2,600 years ago, a group of Phocaeans left their lands and migrated to the present city of Marseille in the south of France by sea. It is estimated that the vine saplings that the Phocaians took with them belonged to the Foca Karası grape. Moreover, this acceptance is so evident on the part of the French that the official French representatives who visited the region presented the French wines they brought with them to the mayors of Foca as a debt of loyalty. We commemorate Volkan Sucukçu, who made a great contribution to the revival of Foca Karasi grape and who we lost recently.
Three wine producers from Izmir now make Foca Karasi wines. As Öküzgözü Winery produces a single variety of Foca Karasi, Ayda Wines and USCA uses this endemic grape as part of their blend wines.
Foca Karasi, which has medium-sized, ellipsoid grains, has thick crusts. There are spaces between the grains in their placement on the cluster. We invite you to taste Foca Karası wines, which produce "medium bodied wines with lots of spice, sour cherry and blackberry flavors" with the recipe of Sucukçu, who brought grapes back to Foca.
For Volkan Sucukçu's work on Foca Karasi
https://tarihvakti1.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/foca-karasi-kendi-vatanina-donuyor/
For USCA Winery
https://www.usca.com.tr/anasayfa
For Ayda Winery
